A Review of Research in Educational Settings Involving Children’s Responses

Values and Needs of Children With and Without Special Educational Needs in Early School Years: A Study of Young Children’s Views on What Matters to Them

“…Children's Right to Share Their Opinions and to be Listened to Children, both those with and without special educational needs, have the right to share their opinions about their everyday life in preschool and school, and to be listened to and be respected (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UN CRC], 1989, article 12-13; United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [UN CRPD], 2006, article 7). Children can be understood to be experts on their own lives, and to have important things to say about their education to teachers, researchers, and evaluators (Aronsson, Hedegaard, Højholt, & Ulvik, 2012;Clark & Moss, 2011;Lundqvist, 2014;Mason & Danby, 2011). Incorporating children's views into educational research/evaluations is therefore considered important (Allodi Westling, 2002;Clark & Moss, 2011;Due, Riggs, & Augoustinos, 2014;Kellet, 2011;Lundqvist, 2014;Qvarsell, 2015;Siljehag, 2014Siljehag, , 2015Stanek, 2014;Tangen, 2008;UN CRC, 1989;UN CRPD, 2006).…”

“…Children can be understood to be experts on their own lives, and to have important things to say about their education to teachers, researchers, and evaluators (Aronsson, Hedegaard, Højholt, & Ulvik, 2012;Clark & Moss, 2011;Lundqvist, 2014;Mason & Danby, 2011). Incorporating children's views into educational research/evaluations is therefore considered important (Allodi Westling, 2002;Clark & Moss, 2011;Due, Riggs, & Augoustinos, 2014;Kellet, 2011;Lundqvist, 2014;Qvarsell, 2015;Siljehag, 2014Siljehag, , 2015Stanek, 2014;Tangen, 2008;UN CRC, 1989;UN CRPD, 2006). The children can describe to practitioners, researchers, and evaluators what they value and dislike in early school years, and what they feel worried about.…”

Young children’s perspectives on resolving social exclusion within inclusive classrooms

“…Not including all children means constraining their full participation within society, thereby undermining their rights to participate (Sargeant, 2018). Up to now, however, children's participation within research has been sparse (Lundqvist, 2014) or limited to the role of being a consultant (Pearson, 2016;Sargeant, 2018).…”

“…To fully account for the needs of children and to change education in a meaningful way for the children themselves, children ought to be included in research and in the implementation and realization of inclusive education Sargeant, 2018). It has been acknowledged that if children are included in inclusive educational research, this could positively push the move towards inclusive education and benefit the social and educational needs of the children (Ainscow & Messiou, 2018;Calder, Hill, & Pellicano, 2013;Lundqvist, 2014;Sargeant, 2018). The inclusion of the voices of children is not only right's based, but a necessity in realizing an inclusive education system that meets the needs of children, with or without SEBD.…”

(How) Does Information Provided by Children Affect the Transition from Primary to Secondary School?

“…Although most children look forward to having more freedom, new challenges and making new friends at secondary school (Sirsch 2003) they also realize that There are only a few studies on the transition that have focused on the perspective of the children themselves. Although it is considered important to include children's responses in research and the evaluation of educational settings, so far conclusions appear to be based predominantly on reports about children, rather than on what children themselves say about their individual experiences (Lundqvist 2014). In contrast to most previous literature, in this paper we focus on assessing children's concerns, expectations and experiences about changes in the school-and in the social context caused by the transition.…”